RROB Howley’s ninemonth ban (with a further nine months suspended) for breaching World Rugby’s gambling regulations is not something to be taken lightly.
The spectre of match-fixing is an attendant danger if coaches or players gamble on the outcome of games, and there are a few things more corrosive to the fabric of a sport than people involved in it using underhand, illicit methods to make money by influencing results.
It is why World Rugby’s regulations stipulate unequivocally that no employee in the game can bet on it – and the decorated Wales and Lions assistan...